NASA Wants To Pay You $18,500 To Lie In Bed For 2 Months And Eat Snacks
If you love NASA and laying in bed, you might just be the ideal test subject for a very lucrative study
Working from home as an internet writer is basically my dream gig. I get to lay in bed, often with Real Houseives on the TV in the background, and type away on my laptop for a living. If this also sounds like your idea of a great time, NASA might have just the gig for you.
NASA is partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center to conduct a study on how long periods of living in zero-gravity affects the human body — and this time, they want to know specifically how women are affected. They’re looking for volunteers for phase two of the study, which will require lying down in a bed in a lab for 60 days. If you can handle that, you could net 16,500 euros, or around $18,500, for your time and (complete lack of) effort. According to CNN, there will be snacks including pancakes and other sweets.
So basically $9,000 a month to lay around and do nothing? We know there’s food, but is the Netflix provided? Because if so, this is an actual dream job.
I mean, sure, the point of the study is to test artificial gravity that’s meant to prevent muscle atrophy in astronauts who go to space. And if it doesn’t work, 60 days is definitely enough time to lose some muscle mass. But what are you really using it for, anyway? Who even needs muscles when you can get paid to stay in bed?
The study is open to women between the ages of 25 and 55. It will require them to travel to Germany, where they’ll assume their horizontal position in a lab for the next two glorious months. Two thirds of the participants will be placed in a machine daily that rotates their bodies, theoretically forcing blood back into their extremities. The other third of the women in the study will be the control subjects, which means literally all they gotta do is show up and lie down. Yes, hello, I’m literally right here.
“All experiments, meals, and leisure pursuits will take place lying down,” a press release about the study reads. “Crewed spaceflight will continue to be important in the future in order to carry out experiments in microgravity, but we must make it as safe as possible for the astronauts.”
Participants will also be pretty restricted in how they’re allowed to move, because any strain on their muscles during the study could skew the results. Basically, this is not for anyone but the most committed to the stay-in-bed lifestyle.
In addition to laying down for 60 days, they’ll undergo a few weeks of orientation and physical therapy at the beginning and the end of the study, so the total commitment is closer to three months.
This isn’t the first time NASA has offered an opportunity like this one. The first phase of the study is already underway, with 12 men and 12 women currently living their best lives lying down for science. They haven’t said yet how many women will be chosen to participate in phase two.
If you think you have what it takes to stay in bed for two months for money, you can apply to the study online.
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